Failsafe
by aanonchan
Summary: M for language and some blood. In every program, there is a failsafe, an escape, a button to press in case everything has gone wrong. You could say that everything has gone wrong. Karkat POV


Failsafe

My world is nothing but silence and sensation. The sharp pain that dulls and fades to a pulse, then an ache, then a nothing. Just an empty, drained feeling. I'm dimply aware that my blood is on display, on display for all to see, but for once in my life, I cannot force myself to care.

There is a jolt, and something warm is pressed against my skin where my shirt has ridden up, and my face is buried in fur. Surviving the wrath of him only to be smothered in his neck fur.

He smelled oddly sweet. Like sugar, but with the cloying saccharine undertones of decay.

I am oddly at peace.

I am not angry.

I am not afraid.

As I slump onto the floor, my blood mixing with Terezi's, I feel a quaint sense of security. As he and Vriska fight, I fade and I listen for the flutter of a heartbeat from Terezi.

When there is nothing, I am strangely relieved.

I wake to something different.

I am...nowhere I have seen before. As leader of this goddamn session, I pride myself on knowing where the fuck I am. No, this place-

"-Is in between realities"

I whirled around. The room I was in was opulent, filled with all sorts of priceless-looking shit. Gradually I felt the rage coming back, curling up at the base of my skull, settling itself back in its own home. "Who the FUCK are you, and what the FUCK is this place?"

"You're in between sessions."

The voice was unaffected, dry, with that hint of sarcasm that grated on my noble sensibilities like a shredding apparatus on a dairy product. "Gog fucking damnit, I swear if you don't cut this hoofbeast-shit I-"

And he was in front of me.

The voice was definitely male, but this...this being in front of me was genderless, neutral. He had no face, no features. Admittedly, he was a snappy dresser, but his tailored white suit glowed of the same light that he did. I nervously swallowed the rest of my insult and kindly shut the fuck up.

"I am Doc Scratch. You are in between game sessions. Your name is Karkat Vantas, you come from Alternia, you are presently dying at the feet of an alternate Jack Noir."

I was silent. Slowly, slowly, I grinned-all of my teeth visible, I leered at this motherfucker. "You think you know shit, do you? I'm the one fucking responsible for this shit and you just pluck me out of goddamn REALITY to have a little chat?" I spat derisively at him and turned my back to him.

"The game has been corrupted. Seeing as my current protégées are either dead or otherwise engaged, you're the only one who can fix it."

"Find some other goddamn chump, okay? I was happy dying, why can't you just fucking leave me be for one instant of my miserable life. Six fucking solar sweeps and some glowing cue-ball for a head asshole decides to ruin my death by dragging me off to some fucking extra-dimensional observatory/love nest/whafuckever." I reached for the door handle, and stormed out of the place.

I swear I could feel the fucker's AMUSEMENT as he watched me leave. I looked over my shoulder, sure to see some sort of smirk on his face, but it remained perfectly smooth and featureless. I shoved my hands in my pockets and the door closed behind me.

I blinked.

I had just walked OUT of one door, and THROUGH the one at the opposite end of the room.

The rage growled from within my skull and I grit my teeth together painfully. "Okay, I don't know what kind of asshattery you're trying to pull, but this-"

"-a complete and utter waste of my valuable, priceless fucking time, so if you would kindly fuck off and put me back down in the pool of blood you picked me up from, I would be happy." Scratch finished my sentence, plucking the words from my head and saying them in my voice. I stared.

"Are you done being angry and self-righteous Vantas?"

I could feel the creeping heat in my face as I blushed, half from embarrassment, half from anger. I dug my claws into my palms and stood there, rigid.

"I'll take that as a yes." Doc Scratch's voice was cool and far-away.

"The fuck do you need me to do?" I finally spat out from behind clenched teeth

He laughed. An odd, musical, creepy as shit noise that made no sense because he didn't MOVE at all. He clasped his hands behind his back and took a stable stance.

"I need you to hit the failsafe."

"The what?"

"All you need to do is press the 'ESCAPE' button."

"That makes no fucking sense, look, if you could talk sense instead of being more batshit insane than Gamzee on a soporslime binge maybe I would give a shit and actually try to fix the goddamn mess I got everyone into!"

I felt the emptiness again, and I looked down to see my blood seeping out, staining my black shirt, soaking it in red. The rage curdled and boiled, and it was no longer directed at him, but at myself. I stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar of his goddamn expensive looking silk suit, and the white cloth felt insubstantial beneath my fingertips. I stained it with red and drew my face close to the blank expanse of his. Irrationally, I felt tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

"DON'T YOU THINK WE WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING IF IT WAS EASY AS THAT? DON'T YOU THINK SOMEONE WOULD HAVE HIT YOUR FUCKING FAILSAFE? DON'T YOU THINK SOMEONE WOULD HAVE STOPPED THIS? THEY WOULDN'T BE DEAD RIGHT NOW, DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME YOU WHITE BASTARD?"

The darkness began to eat away at the edges of my vision, and I gripped his collar desperately now, struggling to keep myself on my feet. "If you could fix it all like that, why did you let them die?" I whispered, tears streaming down my face. Because even though he could have fixed it, it was my fault, oh god it was all my fault. Gamzee had snapped and Jack had killed all the rest and I had stood there and watched. Fearless leader indeed. I had watched and done nothing, and now Terezi was dead down there, and Vriska, the bitch, was going to do what I hadn't ever been able to and...

Doc Scratch held me up as I cried, as I weakened. The red of my blood and the red of my tears blossomed on the fabric of his clothing, smeared across his hands, but he held me up and I slumped against his shoulder.

He didn't say anything.

And all at once I was dying again. I was laying on the ground, my face caked in the red and teal of our blood mixed together, and dimly I could see Jack raising his bloody sword, wings spread wide, ready to bite through flesh and armor to the indigo that ran in Vriska's veins, and with a last effort, I opened my hand.

There was a small amulet clenched in my fist.

"ESCAPE"

Jack brought his sword down.

I pressed the button.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

This is my first Homestuck fiction. I've been with the comic since Problem Sleuth days, but Karkat is too close to my heart not to write about.

Characters are Andrew Hussie's

Scenario is mine.


End file.
